In Paul’s epistle to the Romans, the Apostle first considers justification from our offences. Grace has delivered me from the penalty of my sins, but what about my sin nature? We have a nature with a will contrary to the will of God. At the twelfth verse of the fifth chapter the subject changes, and Paul takes up this all-important question.
We are born with a sin nature as members of Adam’s race; it is called the flesh. Adam’s disobedience, and the resulting entrance of sin into the world, was devastating. It not only affected man but the “Whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22). Death has reigned because of one man’s disobedience. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom. 5:12). Death characterizes the flesh; it is not the consequence of a transgressed law—death existed without law. The law confirmed man’s condition. It convicted; it did not win back to God. It made every action of sin a positive offence. “For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Rom. 5:13). “Sin, that it might appear sin, working death to me by that which is good; in order that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Rom. 7:13 JnD).
The devastating effects of Adam’s disobedience can only be undone through grace—the sovereign, divine intervention of God in love. One man’s sin brought death, but now one Man’s death (Christ) has brought life. “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Law demands from man; grace, on the other hand, flows out from God—furthermore, it is an abounding grace, overabounding the effects of sin. “The gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15). Its efficacy, as to man, is limited to those who will receive it. “If by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).
The law judged and condemned without remedy. It sets me in jail and throws away the key. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:10). There is no remedy for my sin nature—there is no cure. Death is its due, and this is where law, in effect, places me (Gal. 2:19). I died under it; once dead, law has nothing more to say to me. We cannot kill the jailer (the law)—we are the ones who must die. As a Christian, what is my life now? It is that life I have in Christ. “I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:19 JND). The death sentenced to me in my conscience has fallen on another—Christ. But He now lives, and I live through Him. By grace I am united to Christ. In figure I learn that the death and resurrection of Christ was for me. If He died, I died. If He is risen, I am risen. I must accept death, as the judgment of God upon man. It is an altogether different life, not a renewal of the old life I had in Adam. This is the justification of life, and this is what grace has accomplished in me (Rom. 5:18). The law condemned and led only to death. Grace justifies and brings life. “The law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:20). Grace super-abounds, rising over all and magnifying God. Grace now reigns through righteousness—God’s righteousness is preserved intact, without compromise.
It is essential to recognize that grace does not reconcile God to man, and certainly not God to sin—we are the ones that must be reconciled to God. Peace is made through the blood of the cross; it forms the basis of reconciliation. Creation—things on earth and in heaven—will ultimately be reconciled to God; they await God’s coming in power (Col. 1:20; Rom. 8:19). They were not subjected to vanity as a result of their own will (Rom. 8:20). Infernal beings (things under the earth), although they must bow to the name of Jesus (Phil. 2:10), will never be reconciled. As for guilty man, “If, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much rather, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in the power of His life” (Rom. 5:10). We are reconciled through the death of Christ; God views us as dead in Christ. The life we now possess is that same resurrection life found in Christ. It is true that grace picked us up when we were enemies, but, through death, we are taken entirely out of our former position and presented before God in Christ, holy, unblameable, and irreproachable. “You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22 JnD). The Father has “made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). The prodigal was not fit to go in until he had the best robe on. But reconciliation goes further; we have a new mindset, and we enjoy a present reconciliation in the perfect love of the Father.